


The Cracked Boy

by cosmiccrumbs



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Spanking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 18:44:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5175401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmiccrumbs/pseuds/cosmiccrumbs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Isaac, violence was the expectation, not the exception.</p><p>A look into the abuse Isaac and his brother suffered growing up.</p><p>Abandoned; lost most of the planning for this story and have been too demotivated to work on it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cracked Boy

Isaac had been asked a few times over the years why he had never reported what his father did to him or ever said anything about it to anyone and it took him a while to understand that his experiences growing up were not universal – hell, his experiences weren’t even a slightly more extreme version of what most children faced. For Isaac, violence was the expectation, not the exception.

\----------

Isaac was small, his head barely peeking over the counter, but he knew there was cookies on the counter. He had seen his father unpack the container after going grocery shopping, even if he didn't remember them being added to the cart, and he wanted one. His dad was talking on the phone in the other room and Camden was still at school. Isaac first tried reaching his hand up on the counter to grab them, but couldn’t reach. He dragged a kitchen chair over to the counter and clambered up. 

Hearing the chair scraping, Lahey came into the kitchen. “I have to go,” he said on the cordless phone before hanging it up with a beep in preparation of dealing with his son. He watched as Isaac reached for the cookies and just as he nearly had one, Lahey called out sharply, “What the hell are you doing Isaac?”

“I wanted a cookie,” Isaac said grabbing one.

“No, those are for good boys after dinner,” Lahey said stalking over to his son and grabbing his wrist, taking the cookie away.

“No! Mine!” Isaac shouted before wailing.

“Why are you always like this?” Lahey shouted giving his son a shake as Isaac continued shrieking, trying to yank his body away from his father. Isaac stopped screaming, shocked by the sudden sensation of pain in his cheek from where Lahey had slapped him. “Are you finished?”

Isaac sniffled a bit, still surprised. “Put the chair back and go stand in the corner,” Lahey said, letting Isaac go before moving back to the living room to continue his phone call.

It took Isaac a minute, but he did decide to listen. He put the chair back and moved to the empty corner of the kitchen that was often used as the time out corner. He gently rubbed at his cheek and winced a bit at the pain. After fifteen minutes he was bored and started wiggling about, glancing over his shoulder trying to see where his father was. Finally, the phone call ended and Lahey came back into the kitchen and stood behind Isaac who had frozen, nose to the corner when he heard the phone call end and his father move back into the kitchen. He knew is was really in trouble and didn't want to make it worse.

“You are going to go to your room and I will not hear a peep out of you. While you are in there, you will clean everything up, and make your bed because I know you didn’t do so this morning like you were told. When Camden gets home you are going to get a spanking. And then you are going to bed without dinner or dessert. Is that understood?” Lahey asked calmly.

“That’s not fair dad! I just wanted one cookie. Like as a snack!” Isaac insisted, turning around indignantly, promises to himself of being good vanishing at the promise of having dessert taken away. He had been spanked so many times in his short life that the idea of another one didn't particularly frighten him. He needed to deal with the more immediate issue of losing dessert.

“Perhaps if you had asked permission instead of stealing I would have let you have one. But you decided to be a thief instead. Now, you can either go upstairs and do as you were told, or I can take you down to the sheriff’s station and they can lock you up forever because that’s what happens when you try to steal,” Lahey said kneeling down in front of Isaac, watching as tear’s started to well up. “And then you would never see me or Camden ever again and we would all be very sad about that. And bad things happen to boys like you in prison. People there will try and hurt you very badly. You don’t want to go away forever, do you, never get to play or eat dessert again?” There was almost a mocking tone in Lahey's voice.

“No, Dad, no, I’ll go upstairs,” Isaac said through his tears, scrubbing at his eyes roughly with his hands, knowing how much his father hated when he or Camden cried.

“There, there now. After your punishment tonight, all will be forgiven,” Lahey said gently patting Isaac’s shoulder. He would withhold anymore affection than that until tomorrow morning. “Go on up to your room and get it all clean before Camden gets home.”

Isaac scampered off and got up the stairs as quickly as he could, finishing wiping his tears away. He was determined to be as good as he could the rest of the night so that his father wouldn’t take him to the sheriff’s station and have him locked away forever. He started by making his bed, straightening out the sheets and blankets as best he could and tucking the outer edge in like Camden had taught him to do. It was supposed to make the bed easier to make every morning, but Isaac moved around so much in his sleep he usually yanked the blankets and sheets out from where they had been tucked in. He picked up his teddy bear from where he had thrown it across the room the previous night and gently set it on his pillow, patting it on the head. Camden said their mother had gotten it especially for Isaac and so it was very special. He felt a little bad that it got thrown around more nights than not.

There really wasn’t very much else in Isaac’s room. A few clothes on the floor and some toys scattered about. The bedrooms were the only places toys were allowed and Camden was starting to outgrow playing with toys. Isaac put the dirty clothes in the hamper that sat against one of the walls and the toys in his toy basket. There was a coloring book and crayons abandoned in the middle of the rug. He sat down and carefully put them all back in the box, making sure all the tips were pointing up. He was sure they needed to be that way, although he couldn't remember why. He put both in one of the drawers of his bedside table.

Isaac looked around his room and saw that everything was now picked up. He grabbed the teddy bear from the bed and sat down holding it. Gingerly, he poked at his cheek. It felt like when he poked the bruises that showed up on his knees when he fell down trying to catch Camden in tag. Isaac tried to keep himself entertained by whispering snippets of stories that he could remember Camden telling him or reading to him. Sometimes he didn’t stick to exactly what he could remember and made up the parts that couldn't remember. He gently rocked himself side to side while cradling the teddy bear in his arms.

He abruptly stopped moving and talking as he heard the squeak of bus brakes, indicating that Camden was home from school. His stomach started to ache as he remembered the spanking that he had been promised. He stood up and placed the teddy bear back on the bed before wrapping his arms around his stomach. He knew his father would be in the room soon to drag him down to the basement if he didn't respond quickly enough when he was called down. He silently vowed to himself to be on his best behavior during the punishment, and not to cry in an effort to not earn extra.

“Isaac come down here,” Lahey called up the stairs. Isaac slowly made his way down to the kitchen where Camden and Lahey were silently waiting. “You can lead the way down.” Lahey gestured towards the door that lead to the basement. Camden looked over his brother’s face, feeling anger at the bruising on Isaac’s face. He felt like a line had been crossed. This was the first time he had known of Isaac being struck in the face. Spankings had been apart of their lives since their mother had left, and Camden had been slapped a few times when his mouth got the better of him, but Isaac was still so young he felt almost indignant about it. Camden had given up hope of the spankings ever stopping - they only seemed to get worse as time went on - but he had hoped things might be a little easier for his younger brother.

Isaac bit his lip and with a nod of encouragement from Camden opened the door, flipped the light switch turning on the sparse basement lighting. The three walked down the wooden steps that creaked under Lahey’s heavier weight.

The basement was home to a washer, dryer, freezer and the punishment chair. It had once sat at the kitchen table but had been moved down here when Mrs. Lahey had left. There were a few storage boxes scattered about and on one wall were several hooks. A belt, a small paddle, and a larger paddle with holes hung from three of them. Wound up extension cords hung from another two. Lahey moved the chair into an open space and sat down while Camden stood directly across from his father, hands behind his back, eyes on the floor, leaving a wide space between him and his father. Lahey gestured for Isaac to come to him and stand to the side of his thigh.

“Pay attention Camden and learn from your brother’s mistakes,” Lahey insisted, staring at his older son until he lifted his eyes to watch the scene before him. Lahey always insisted on holding off on punishments until they could be done with the other boy watching. It added another layer of humiliation to the punishment that he hoped would serve as a deterrent from poor behavior. “Now Isaac, why don’t you tell Camden why we are down here today.”

“Umm… I tried to steal a cookie earlier,” Isaac said, not able to meet his father’s or his brother’s eyes.

“I’m going to have to be a little harsher today Isaac since what you did was not only wrong but also illegal. Undo your pants and lay over my knee,” Lahey said, patting his lap one.

Isaac fumbled with the button and zipper of his jeans, his hands gently shaking. His father’s punishments already hurt so much he wasn’t sure how he was going to get through an even harder one. He bent over and Lahey adjusted him so that Isaac’s feet didn’t touch the floor. Isaac wrapped his arms around his father’s leg. Holding on tightly kept him from reaching back and his father had no qualms about hitting his hands if they got in the way.

Once positioned, Lahey pulled Isaac’s pants and underwear about halfway down his thighs. “You know the rules,” Lahey said simply before beginning the punishment. The whacks were predictable for the first part of the punishment, alternating cheeks in quick succession, Lahey’s large hand covering the whole cheek with each swat. Isaac gritted his teeth together, trying to be strong.

Lahey hardly bothered with lecturing during the punishment. He wanted his son’s to focus on the pain and remember it as a deterrent from repeating the same behavior in the future. Once Isaac was a dusty pink, he switched to random hits. Sometimes three or four in quick succession in the same location, or he would leave long seconds in between swats. He focused on Isaac’s sit spots so that it would still be felt tomorrow.

Isaac began to squirm and bit his lips. He felt so guilty for being in the position once again, taking up his father and Camden’s time. It was such a waste having to punish him. But he knew that meant he was loved. His father had told him before that he only bothered punishing his sons because he loved them. Tears were starting to well up in his eyes as he started making little sounds of pain. He encouraged himself in his head to tolerate the pain. Isaac knew that if he ever did something wrong and his father didn't punish him, that meant he was not loved any longer, that his father had given up on him.

Lahey moved into the portion where he gave six hits very hard. His palm was tingling as he shook it out. He could hear Isaac sniffling as he wiggled a bit, trying to alleviate some of the sting and to rub the tears from his eyes. Lahey was surprised how well Isaac had handled this portion of the punishment but he wouldn’t go inflating his ego with praise. The next part would surely break him. “Camden, bring me the small paddle.”

“Dad, he’s just a kid,” Camden said, trying to spare Isaac.

“I don’t care Camden. What he did was illegal and he needs to understand that now or he will end up in jail. Is that what you want for your brother?”

“No, Dad,” Camden said softly as he walked to the wall and grabbed the requested paddle. He moved over to his father and brother and handed it over with a grimace.

“I know you don’t like watching this Camden. But we both know it’s for his own good,” Lahey insisted as he took the paddle and Camden returned to his observation position. “I think fifteen is fair.”

Lahey gave a practice swing to test his aim, tapping the cold wood gently against Isaac’s rear. He squeezed his father’s leg even tighter, deeply afraid of the pain he was sure was about to come. The pain exploded across his still stinging rear and Isaac lost all the air in his lungs in a quick huff. He had expected it to feel similar to his father’s hand and it didn’t at all. It felt more like the time he had fallen off the playscape at the park and landed right on his butt, knocking the wind from him.

Lahey didn’t give Isaac much recovery time before landing the next hit. On the third the squirming began and he resecured his grip around Isaac’s waist before continuing. “Dad, please stop!” Isaac squealed on the fifth hit but Lahey ignored him and continued on. On the seventh, Isaac started crying in earnest, even as he continued to try and wiggle away. He managed to keep his hands gripped around his father’s calf and not reach back.

For the last five, Lahey lifted his knee so that he could land all the hits on Isaac’s sit spots. When he finished Isaac laid limply on his father’s lap while Lahey pulled his clothing back into place and helped him stand up. Isaac tried wiping his tears away but couldn’t quite get his sobs under control. Even though he knew better, Isaac couldn’t help but hope he might get a hug. “I’m sorry Dad,” he choked out as he fumbled to button and zip his pants.

“Since you are old enough to steal, you are old enough to sleep in the basement,” Lahey decided on a whim ignoring Isaac’s apology and his son's eyes searching for any hint of comfort. Lahey kept his gaze hard glancing at the twin sized foam mattress pad on one side of the basement. Camden had spent a few nights down here himself and Lahey didn’t think himself a cruel disciplinarian. “Camden will bring a blanket and pillow down for you.”

“Okay,” Isaac said with a nod. Without another word, Lahey quickly moved the chair to its place, rehung the paddle and made his way upstairs as Camden trailed behind him. Isaac moved over the foam pad and at first tried to sit down. He could still feel the cement floor through the pad and quickly rolled onto his stomach. Isaac rubbed at his bottom gingerly, trying to remove some of the sting but at this point it felt more like bruises were forming. He ended up just resting his eyes instead. Crying usually made him tired.

A few minutes later he heard Camden’s feet pattering down the stairs and across the cement floor over to Isaac. “You okay Ize?” he asked, covering his brother with the blanket and putting the pillow in easy reach. “I brought Teddy.”

Isaac opened his eyes and grabbed the teddy bear before putting the pillow under his head. “I’m okay Cam. Jus’ hurts,” Isaac, scrubbing his eyes again. They itched from the dried tears.

Camden ran his hands through Isaac’s hair again. “I couldn’t grab any snacks, but I’ll make sure Dad unlocks the door before I go to school. You’ll be okay. It isn’t too bad down here.”

“Sorry I was bad Cam,” Isaac said softly, his eyes fluttering as he tried to stay awake.

“It’s okay Ize,” Camden said tucking the blanket close around Isaac. He gave a gentle pat to his younger brother’s head before heading back upstairs. His father had threatened to punish him if he took too long downstairs.

Isaac listened to the floor above him creaking as his father moved about making dinner. He could smell spaghetti sauce cooking, one of his favorite foods. He pouted at the unfairness of missing his favorite meal. Maybe they would have leftovers tomorrow. He always thought spaghetti tasted better the second day. Isaac gently ran his fingers over the fuzz of one of the teddy bear’s ears as he drifted off to sleep.

\-------

The next morning Isaac cautiously walked up the stairs as quietly as he could. He tested the door and found it unlocked. Camden had made sure the door was unlocked, just like he had said he would. His father was eating cereal and reading the newspaper at the kitchen table. “I wanted to say sorry again Dad,” Isaac choked out, still sore from last night’s punishment. He had poked around at his bottom when he first woke up and it was definitely bruised.

“Come here Isaac,” Lahey said, almost warmly, setting down his newspaper and scooting his chair out as Isaac’s feet pattered across the linoleum. He reached down and scooped Isaac into his lap giving him a tight hug. “All is forgiven now.” Isaac wiggled as close as he could, throwing his arms around his father’s neck and squeezing, ignoring the pain from his bruises being jostled. “Let’s get you some Lucky Charms for breakfast, yeah?”

In those brief moments wrapped in his father's arms, the promise of his favorite cereal for breakfast, and his crime forgotten, Isaac felt like his father truly did love him.


End file.
